Nomad Kind of Love Read online

  Tank put his hand on Scoop's shoulder. The animal spun, and his eyes went wide when he saw three hundred pounds of pure muscle stuffed into a Prairie Devils jacket looking at him.

  There were no words.

  Tank's fist shot up, landing square on Scoop's jaw. The uppercut sent him flying through the air.

  I almost jumped for joy when his body hit a table. Tank stood over him, cornering his target, hopefully warming up his sledgehammer fists for more.

  People noticed the commotion. They screamed and began to stampede for the entrance. I flattened myself against the circular bar just in time to avoid getting run over. Up on the stage, Amber Lynn froze, covering her bare breasts and looking frantically around the room.

  Shit! She needs to get the hell out of here.

  I moved forward, carefully pushing past drunk guys flooding the opposite way. The air was thick with sweat, beer, and sex.

  Stifling.

  But I was confident. I kept on, until I was at the corner of the stage Amber had retreated to.

  She looked down and saw me. Fear flickered in her eyes, and she huddled, shaking like a leaf.

  Is this what I looked like when Maverick found me?

  “Get back stage!” I shouted. “Tell the other girls to pack it in and head out. Shows are canceled tonight!”

  She stared at me, then blinked. Finally, she spun and clicked her heels, her bare ass disappearing behind the bright pink curtain.

  The tables around us were deserted. I exhaled relief when I saw there weren't throngs of crazed Grizzlies closing in on us.

  “He's out. Won't finish the job unless Maverick gives the order.” Tank's voice hummed with pride.

  I moved past him, until I was staring at the face of the man who'd caused so much pain. He was laid out like he was asleep – the same blasted expression I'd seen a thousand times when he was passed out in the clubhouse after too much drinking.

  My lungs buzzed. My heart pumped so hard blood roared in my ears, quieting the loud techno still throbbing in the speakers.

  I reached to the floor and picked up a bottle. Tank cocked his head and gave me a weird look, but he wasn't moving.

  Sick, deranged, rapist prick! Clara, my poor sister...this is for you.

  I held the bottle's neck with both hands and smashed it down on the biker's forehead. Tank threw up his hands and grabbed me.

  I fought him like a feral animal, screaming and crying and choking all at once.

  Hot tears blurred my vision. Violent adrenaline rushed through me, swift and sharp. I thought I'd vomit all over the gorilla holding both my trembling wrists.

  Glass shattering across his head woke Scoop up. He jerked his head, rolled off the table, and fell on the floor.

  His disgusting body rolled more, twitching unnaturally. I wanted to spit on him while he was having a seizure. A concussion and the shakes wasn't half of what this piece of shit deserved for what he'd done.

  Time seemed to fast forward. Other men were at our side, the bouncers the MC had hired to take care of day to day business.

  “Get her out of here!” Tank snarled. “And as for this one...call a fucking ambulance. Got a feeling it's too early to haul this fuck out to a shallow grave in the mountains. Maverick's not gonna like this one bit.”

  I struggled with the bouncer too. I fought, spit, and hissed until he dragged me out into the cool night. The cool mountain air never failed to restore the senses, calming the most violent storms.

  The volcanic eruption in my head boiled down to a simmer. I listened closely to the silent night, straining my ears.

  Motorcycle engines roared in the distance, slowly closing in on Pink Unlimited's first disaster.

  “He's out, brother. Just like I told you over the phone.” Blaze spoke in a low, severe voice to Maverick as they stood over Scoop's mess on the floor.

  “Shit!” Maverick spun and punched one of the tables hard, knocking it clean over. “This is the last fucking thing we need. This asshole in a coma, maybe worse...what the fuck am I supposed to say when the badge shows up to get everything on file?”

  “Not a fucking clue. We were supposed to play it cool.”

  Blaze looked at me through the shadows separating us. His lip curled sourly and his brow furrowed.

  He looked damn scary, and I had good reason to be nervous. He blamed me for breaking the Grizzlies goon's head.

  Fuck you too, Mister Badass Biker. If only you knew what the man on the floor did to me, what he did to Clara...

  “Cancel that ambulance,” Maverick said to the bouncer standing near them.

  “Have Shatter bring the truck around. We'll drop this fucknut off at the ER ourselves and beat it. The Grizzlies can pick him up, if he lives.”

  “You sure it's wise to leave a witness?” The doubt in Blaze's voice showed exactly what he thought about it.

  Maverick stared him down. The dense air in the club turned prickly, electric, like a thunderstorm was going to start between the two.

  “Don't question me on this. Not your fucking place, brother.” Maverick stepped up, until he was in his face. “We can't just dump him out in the woods. No fucking point when the idiot we hired phoned in an emergency and at least a hundred people here tonight saw everything go down. We fucking stomped him first.”

  “Shouldn't matter. He came into our strip club wearing enemy colors.” Blaze pressed Scoop's side with his shoe.

  “Oh, it fucking matters a lot, and you know it. If this sets off a war with the Grizzlies, we're gonna have a god damned Alamo situation at our clubhouse. I don't care how many new friends we've made in this little town. They've got the numbers as soon as they start calling up their guys from Seattle, Portland, Nor Cal, Nevada – “

  Blaze held up his hands. “Fine. You've made your point, Aaron.”

  I pinched my eyes tighter, surprised to hear Maverick's brother call him by his real name.

  “I don't need to do any convincing. I make the damned decisions here, Blaze. Don't like it, you can hit the fucking road. I won't even rat your pussy ass out to Throttle for abandoning ship.”

  They exchanged one more angry glare, and then Blaze turned sharply and stomped away. He went past me without so much as a second look.

  I was expecting worse from him. I didn't think it would come from Maverick.

  His men carried Scoop away to the truck outside while the MC President followed behind them. When they passed through the door, he stopped, avoiding my eyes.

  “Tank. June. Get your asses backstage now.”

  He looked at the big guy first. I hadn't seen anything creepier for a long time than the burly veteran sulking past his President, cautious as ever, following his orders to a tee.

  Then Maverick's wicked gaze turned on me, and I withered. There wasn't a trace of the love and lust we'd shared the other night, the night my body cried out to repeat many times over.

  “Move it,” he growled.

  His voice was lower and fiercer than I'd ever heard it, warning me he wouldn't ask again, and definitely wouldn't take any sass. My heart dropped because it was missing babe too.

  I shivered and moved.

  Back-stage, I stood next to Tank, staring glumly at the floor. It hurt too much to look up at him just then, especially when I didn't know what the hell he wanted.

  He stepped up to his MC brother first, enveloping the huge man in his dark aura.

  “You were right to defend this club by throwing the first punch on our turf, brother.”

  “What?” Tank looked up, surprised. I was too.

  Maverick moved like lightning, grabbing the open leather on his chest in both hands. Unbelievably, Tank shook, but I wasn't sure if it was from serious fear or the force of Maverick's hands.

  “Let's talk about where you fucked up. I knew brains weren't your strong point since we picked your ass up in Cassandra. Still, even a dumb fucker like you should know to ask a spy from a hostile MC what the fuck he was doing here!” Maverick's voice began like a
growl and ended in a roar.

  “I'm sorry, boss. I wasn't thinking – “

  “Damned straight, you weren't!”

  “It won't happen again. It's my training. I learned to neutralize threats in the service first. Wasn't ever an intelligence guy...”

  “Bullshit excuses,” Maverick spat.

  He released Tank's cut and shook his head. The giant stood like an icicle. His face had gone red with anger, shame, or maybe both.

  “One more fuck up like this and you will be having a special meeting with me and Throttle. Is that crystal fucking clear?” Maverick's eyes beamed through the darkness like a lion's.

  “Perfectly clear, boss,” Tank repeated. “I won't let you down again. I'll own up to my mistakes.”

  Maverick nodded. Satisfied.

  “Do it, and get the hell out of my sight.”

  Tank shot me an apologetic look as he walked past. Maverick kept his back turned to me until we heard the door slam shut, and then he spun, making a direct line for me.

  My heartbeat doubled. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I didn't want to take shit from this man, but I knew he had a shovel full for me, and there was no getting out of it.

  Let's go. I'm not one of your MC buddies to boss around.

  “You. What the hell were you thinking?” Pain swirled with anger in his voice. “The asshole you laid out on the floor was already down cold. Do you know what'll happen if that fucker ends up dead?”

  “No,” I lied.

  I tried to be brave, but my voice slipped out in the faintest whisper. I knew damned well every MC defended its members like packs of wolves.

  Whatever. I wasn't sorry. I didn't regret killing Scoop – if my bottle had actually destroyed his sick brain – not even a little bit.

  “For a girl who's spent – what? – two years or more in the MC life, you don't know shit.”

  “More than that. My dad was in the Grizzlies.”

  Maverick's eyes narrowed. I hadn't breathed a word about my past before. I wasn't sure why I'd chosen now to reminisce, especially when the phrase motorcycle club was synonymous with nightmare.

  “Damn it, June, my brothers and I are the only ones who give a shit about you. I'm trying to protect you from them and everybody else!” He licked his lips, skin steaming.

  More than gross anxiety tightened up inside me. Damn, he looked hot like this. He was imposing, tinged with sweat, and his chest rose and fell in slow, shallow strokes.

  Fuck me. I can't believe I'm getting wet for this asshole...

  “Do you understand?” His eyes were big, pleading.

  He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed my face to his, so close I could feel his steaming breath. “I want you. Way more than I fucking should. But I'm not gonna let anybody put my club in danger – especially a woman who isn't any part of it.”

  Ouch. I pursed my lips, forcing myself to meet his wild eyed gaze.

  “You're the one who doesn't understand!” The words exploded out of my mouth so harsh I had to stop for air. “You don't know shit about me. About him. I'm not gonna apologize for bashing his head in, Maverick. I'm not sorry, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.”

  He moved, lifting his head up to his full height, towering over me. Maverick looked at me like something he'd eat for lunch.

  I squirmed and gasped as his hands shot around my back. He pulled me toward him, tugging me so hard I started to climb his chest to breathe, my feet dangling on the ground.

  We were at eye level again, but it was his level. He was telling me he wouldn't lower himself to mine if I didn't cooperate.

  “Then you better start talking, baby.” His hands squeezed my ass, angry and rough. “Because if you don't have a damned good reason for putting my MC in serious danger, your ass is gone, no matter how much Pink and my cock will miss you.”

  “Fuck you!” I screamed. “They fucking raped my sister!”

  I clapped my lips shut. The words echoed through the emptiness like a lone bullet being discharged.

  Maverick's grip softened. His eyes were big and clear, shocked. I never imagined that look before.

  “What? When?”

  “Years ago. Right after they killed my dad and shot up my junkie Mom...the asshole who came in here tonight and the bigger asshole over him. Their VP, Vulture. They kept us as slaves. I tried to keep Clara together, tried to get us free...but I fucked up. I got her raped and she broke. Found her dead the next morning with a bunch of fucking empty pill cartons in her lap.”

  Maverick sat me on the floor, but kept his arms around me. He looked like he'd been smacked in the forehead.

  “Jesus Christ,” he whispered.

  I was weeping all over his huge arms at this point, spilling my tears on his tattoos. All at once, he threw himself around me, embracing me with everything he had.

  I blubbered like a baby for the next five minutes. Monsters rattling their cages for far too long frolicked free in my head.

  I saw my father's dead, beaten face smeared in his own blood. Then Clara's chalk white expression as she lay limp and cold in my arms, her eyes sunken back in her head from the poison she'd taken.

  “You can help me,” I whispered, as soon as I could speak. “Help me get the one thing that'll finally make me whole, Maverick. Please.”

  Tight, angry wrinkles lined his face when he looked at me. “I can't feed your need for vengeance openly with my club as Maverick, President of the MC.”

  My heart sank and I started crying harder again. Only for a second.

  “Unofficially, as Aaron Sturm, it's another story. After what you just said, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't work out some way to destroy the fucking animals who've caused you so much pain.” He leaned into me, pouring vicious heat into my ear. I whimpered in his arms.

  “Don't breathe a word about this to anybody else, babe. I won't let it go. Not until they break, bleed, and die at your feet. I promise.”

  VI: Acrobatics (Maverick)

  “Jesus! Maverick! You're fucking killing me!”

  The bed rocked maniacally beneath us as I drove into her. I had June beneath me, on her hands and knees, sweet ass bobbing as I slammed myself into her for all I was worth.

  I reached around her front side and grabbed her tits.

  Her buds felt fucking amazing between my fingers. I pinched them, reminding her who was in control, and she loved every nasty second. Her sweet cunt got ten degrees hotter, wetter, opening deeper for me.

  It was the first time fucking her bare, and I was going to claim her with all nature's fury. The pill protected her from anything crazy happening, but my cock didn't know that.

  Thrusting into her, nothing mattered except shooting seed up her womb. I swore I'd fill her belly up and leave her leaking my essence for a good long time.

  I yanked her hair, forced her lower, pulling her ass up to meet my thrusts.

  Harder, deeper, better...

  June arched her back and came for the second time, swiveling her hips against me, grinding and milking my cock. I jackhammered in for the send off, fucking through her climax.

  With this woman, nothing would ever be easy or soft. She needed to break, to feel, to surrender wrapped around my thickness, all for her own fucking good.

  “Fuck, babe! Your heat – “

  I couldn't say another word. I rammed forward and exploded, reigniting her climax, prolonging an orgasm tearing through her so hot and intense she gasped for precious oxygen.

  I forgot to breathe too. But fuck it, my lungs didn't need to work when I was balls deep inside her, emptying myself, shooting my come straight up her hot little womb.

  My cock jerked, spitting its searing load again and again. Nobody made me come like June.

  I'd fucked my share of whores and small town sluts, many of them tens. They had the tits and ass, but they didn't turn every fucking muscle in my body to stone like June, not like the girl – the only girl – I ever called “babe.”

  My heart pumped, sending ba
dly needed blood to my bulging muscles. The rest of me just kept coming, rippling with raw heat, burning up in her sweet, endless inferno. Fuck, she'd be the death of me if I wasn't careful.

  My body, mind, and soul only cared about hurling my seed into her as deep as I could.

  I wanted to mark her as mine. Like, really fucking mark her, inside and out.

  Soon she'd be branded with more than just my seed. Wouldn't be long until I took her as an old lady, and then she'd get the tattoo showing everybody she was my property.

  Until then, I'd make do by fucking her, coming in her, licking and sucking every inch that belonged to me.

  And, of course, keeping her safe from everything, including her fucked up past.

  We sighed together as she collapsed beneath me. I pulled away, though I could've went on drilling her. With June, my cock never went completely limp. It was always ready and never fully spent, not when I wanted to give her everything in my soul.

  I flopped down next to her, enjoying the rest. It was our second fuck of the morning since I'd gotten up before dawn with a bad case of wood, and our first time together since she told me she'd taken the pill long enough to give condoms the finger.

  Shit. You're only a heartbeat away from sharing her bed every night, buddy.

  Fucking shit. How will I ever sleep again?

  “I'm glad things are simple in bed,” she murmured, reaching up to stroke my brow. “We lay down. We fuck. We let the fire take away everything else.”

  I grinned. “Best kinda therapy there is, babe.”

  June laughed a couple times. Hearing her laugh was as beautiful as the little mountain birds out here who came down from nowhere to sing in the springtime mornings, and almost as rare.

  Not that I shared that with anybody.

  Nobody wearing the patch was gonna get all deep and flowery about nature. But I wasn't gonna pretend I didn't appreciate it.

  My ears prickled happily. If she was satisfied, then so was I.

  “Therapy...I always used to worry about getting my sister a shrink whenever I thought about running away from them...guess I hadn't given it any thought for myself.” Familiar sadness clouded her eyes.